


6 Ways to Show Someone You Love Them

by Rohad



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Amity is a disaster, F/F, Gay, Luz buys a vowel, She tries, Someone wins a bet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29669256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rohad/pseuds/Rohad
Summary: Amity poses a question to google, and endeavors to finally make Luz see her.Thanks to RainbowBuddy for Beat reading for me!
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 51
Kudos: 322





	1. When in doubt, ask Google

It had been just another normal day hanging out with Luz, Gus, and Willow on the bleachers by the Grudgby field after school, or at least as normal as it ever got for them, meaning there were no magical disasters or fighting for their lives in one convoluted plan or another. The late fall air was cool and a chill hung in the air as they lounged about on the metal seats lining the field; luckily grudgby season was over and the Banshees and, more importantly, their captain, were nowhere in sight. 

She couldn’t remember now what question Gus had asked, but no one had immediately known the answer and Luz had quickly set about digging her human scroll out of her pocket.

“You have the answer on your phone?” Amity asked, leaning in closer to look at the device as Luz swiped her finger across the screen and it lit up in response, revealing a photo of King curled up on the couch in The Owl House as her lock screen.

“Kinda,” she said, wiggling her hand in a ‘so-so’ motion. “There’s a thing on my phone that I can type questions into and it can give me answers or at least help me find the answers from a sorta… collection of human knowledge."

Amity watched, fascinated, as Luz typed in the younger witch's question and came back with a list of answers at the very top of the bright, white page. She wasn’t even paying attention as Luz told Gus the answer to his question, she was currently wrapped up in her own head and the distinct new possibility the little device represented.

After Luz answered his question, Gus whipped back around to Willow, rubbing it in her face that he was right all along. She wasn’t even pretending to listen now as the two lightly bickered. 

“It can answer any question?” she asked, drawing Luz’s curious, earthy, brown gaze. She chuckled at the question.

“Well I mean, it can’t tell you the meaning of life or anything…” She shrugged. “But it can kinda answer most things, yeah. I’m surprised it still works since… ya know,” she gave another shrug and her expression seemed to fall. She didn’t exactly love talking about having to destroy the portal to save Eda, stranding her in the Isles for an unknown length of time, and being unable to call or message her mother, who had to be worried sick about her by now. Luz's departure date had come and gone nearly three months ago. Amity hesitated a moment before reaching up to lay a gentle hand on Luz’s shoulder and gave it an even gentler squeeze. Luz smiled at her as she sat up straighter.

“Did you wanna ask it a question?” she asked, holding the device out to Amity, set on a white page with a little rectangle on it next to a little gray button that only read ‘search’. Amity hummed and after a brief moment of hesitation took the offered device, looking at it curiously. Luz reached over and pressed the little rectangle and it seemed to light up. The alphabet popped up on the bottom and a menu listing different things dropped down from the box itself. Listed were a number of things from ‘Otters’ and ‘cute puppies’ to ‘How do I put out a magical fire?’. At the top was Gus’s question. ‘Do humans have tails?’ Now Amity wished she had paid closer attention to the answer as she glanced surreptitiously at Luz’s back from her position in front of her. “Just type in your question and hit search,” Luz explained and then leaned back as Willow turned to her to weigh in on whatever argument she and Gus were still having about the human tail debate. 

Amity stared down at the blinking cursor for a long moment, she knew what she wanted to ask it, if anything held the answer to her question it would be this; she’d already looked everywhere else. Still, her fingers hesitated over the keyboard and her gold eyes glanced up at Luz for a brief second as she tried to mitigate the argument between Gus and Willow. With a quick decision, her fingers tapped quickly on the keyboard,

‘How to show a human you love them?’

She glanced nervously up at Luz before tapping search.

It went white for a brief moment before a shortlist popped up at the top of the screen. Her eyes widened briefly as she scanned it thoroughly. 

Spend quality time with them  
Do something you know they love even if you're not a fan  
Simple but meaningful gifts.  
Take a walk together  
Small moments of affection  
Express your feelings to them using their love language

Amity hummed thoughtfully to herself. If this was the way humans would tell someone they were in love then Luz should recognize them, right? Maybe she just needed to be more obvious in her signs? She’d long since decided that she was never going to have the courage to tell Luz how she felt, but if she could make her pick up on the signals herself, then she would finally have her answer; one way or the other.

A slightly cowardly approach? Perhaps, but Amity just couldn’t do it with words and she was running out of ideas, options, and sanity. She loved every minute she spent at the human girl's side, but it was maddening to be so head over heels with someone who had no clue as to the lengths Amity would go to for her, if only she asked.

Without even asking, she knew that Willow knew, could tell by that little knowing smirk that played upon her lips anytime Amity so much as stuttered or blushed in Luz’s presence. She was well aware of how smart Willow was, and she definitely knew. 

Gus?

She wasn’t sure about much of anything with Gus but if she had to guess, he was just as clueless as Luz. That was probably for the better. She doubted he could keep a secret as well as the plant witch. 

“Find what you were looking for?”

She jumped, throwing her hands into the air and nearly dropping the device in her shock. With a frantic glance at Luz, she pressed several buttons, clearing the screen as Luz turned back to look at her with a questioning glint in her eyes as she leaned in close to look. 

She nodded, clearing her throat and holding the device back out to Luz, who reached to take it. Their fingers brushing as she did, sending goosebumps prickling all along Amity’s arms, even beneath her long sleeves. 

“Y-Yeah,” she managed to croak out, sounding halfway normal, she hoped. She leaned back slightly as Luz continued to crowd further into her space.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her scroll chime and quickly summoned it with a twirl of her finger and flicked open the waiting message. Her eyes scanned it quickly before she sighed, a frown now pulling at her lips. Her brother, informing her that her parents wanted her home for dinner soon. 

Luz already had a pretty good idea of what that look was about and frowned too.

“You gotta go.” It wasn’t a question. Amity glanced at her and nodded sadly.

“I have to go,” she confirmed and spelled away her scroll before standing, drawing Gus and Willow’s attention as well. “I have to head home, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” She smiled at them and gave a wave before turning and heading up the steps back toward the school and the path that led back to Blight manor. 

They called their goodbyes before Gus and Willow returned to the argument at hand. Luz glanced down at her phone, curious what Amity had asked Google, but before she could click the box Gus was looking at her.

“So how come you don’t have a tail?” he asked and Luz chuckled as she slipped her phone into her pocket and jumped into the discussion, completely forgetting about the question. 

~ ~  
The next morning Amity walked to school deep in thought; she had a plan.

Sort of.

She still couldn’t fathom the idea of using her words to show Luz how she felt but she did at least have a vague plan of action to go off of. She was going to try and follow the list. Maybe, just maybe, Luz would pick up on it, and then she would finally get somewhere.

She sighed to herself. Why, Why was she such a disaster in the face of those big, brown eyes and goofy smile?

No one could render her as speechless and in such a gelatinous state as Luz and Amity loved and hated it in equal measures.

She hated being unable to spit out the words she really wanted to say, chained down by an intense fear of rejection that had haunted her since before Grom. On the other hand, she adored the fluttery feelings that erupted in her whenever Luz was close or said something adorably goofy or sweet to her. She was stuck between a ravenous demon and a man-eating Ivy here.

She couldn’t go on like this, she had to do something, and even if it was still a very roundabout way of doing it, at least she was going to do something! Last night she had screwed her courage to the sticking place and prepared herself for what was to come. If she didn’t have a chance then she wanted to at least finally know it for certain. 

She was going to follow the list and hopefully finally make Luz see what it was she wanted; or she was going to lose her mind. 

This should be simple; in theory. She checked the mental list she had made of what had popped up on Luz’s scroll.

Spend quality time with them.

Today was Tuesday, she had abominations track with Luz today, it was class, but that could be used as quality time right? She didn’t see why it couldn’t be, she and Luz both loved magic in all its amazing and intricate details. 

When she arrived she immediately spotted Luz standing out front of the school with Gus and Willow, once she was close enough Luz was quick to take notice of the flash of green in the corner of her eye and turned to her with a bright smile pulling at her face as she waved,

“Hey, Amity!” she waved and Amity couldn’t help the smile that pulled automatically at her lips or the bright bubbly feeling that made her stomach churn as she trotted over to them, books clutched in her arms. 

Willow glanced between the two and tried her hardest not to roll her eyes at them. This had been going on for months now and the twins had even started taking bets on when it would finally happen. It was inevitable, the two were on a predetermined crash course. Only, no one could see the end of the tracks just yet. 

She had refrained from adding her own two snails, more out of uncertainty than the unscrupulousness of betting on when the two would finally end up together.

“Hi, Luz, Gus, Willow.” She nodded to the others who smiled and waved back. 

“Are you ready for abominations class?” Luz asked her with a bright grin as she bounced around on her toes, vibrating with all the pent-up energy that just seemed to… manifest itself in Luz like a cup of water left under a running sink, overflowing constantly. 

“I’m always ready,” she asserted with a confident smile at the human. She had already decided she was going to have to try and swallow at least some of her nerves so she could make some kind of progress, not that exposure to Luz over months hadn't given her some slight immunity. It was nothing like the day of their grudgby match against Boscha, or Grom, but it still wasn't enough to unstick the solid ball that seemed to lodge in her throat at the idea of telling Luz how she felt; the words refused to budge. 

She could at least normally converse with Luz; most of the time.

“Oh, are you, Blight?” Luz leveled her with a smirk, part playful, part smug, teasing. Amity was thankful for the fact that the blush that spread across her face was small and barely noticeable, a minor dusting across her cheeks 

She was thankful, also, for her ingrained competitiveness and driving nature, which overrode some of her nerves. She wasn’t able to do anything but rise to a challenge, unspoken or otherwise; especially from Luz.

Her smile morphed into a smirk as she locked eyes with Luz as she grinned back at her.

“Have you ever known me not to be?” she asked, a single brow arched imperiously in response. Before Luz could say anything else, the bell screamed, signaling them to head to class. 

“I guess we’ll find out,” Luz laughed and the two of them said their goodbyes to Gus and Willow before heading for the abominations hall. 

They filed in with the other students and Amity carefully sat in her usual seat as Luz plopped down in the one next to her.

Once the bell let out its second scream and class started, Amity found it much easier to relax, even if Luz was sitting so close she could feel the heat rolling off her. It was far easier to concentrate when those eyes weren’t locked onto her. 

Their professor meandered around the room, carried by his abomination as he explained the class period would be spent practicing transfiguring their abominations by combining them with different elements.

Luz still hadn’t mastered an abomination glyph yet and was paired with Amity who would make one for her. With their instructions delivered, the professor returned to his desk as the room was filled with spell circles, and abominations only about knee high rose up on the desks in bright flashes of light.

“Aw, he’s so cute…” Luz cooed at the tiny creature. Amity chuckled, rolling her eyes at the other girl. “I’m gonna name him… Charlie,” Luz declared and Amity snorted, drawing Luz’s grinning gaze. 

“It’s a magical construct, Luz, not a pet,” but even as she said it, she couldn’t help but smile. Luz’s foreign take on magic was always an interesting one and, only to herself would she admit it, an adorable one. She turned back to concentrate on her own project. 

Luz hummed as she considered Charlie thoughtfully. It looked back at her with the same dead-eyed expression they always had. She glanced over at her Amity who had closed her eyes and was holding up a finger. Slowly she traced it through the air, the bright magenta circle glowed to life as Amity’s brows furrowed in concentration and the witchlings abomination began to smoke and smolder. Luz watched, fascinated as the goopy golem started to bubble and shift before it burst into bright pink flames that lit up their face in the flickering firelight. 

“Whoa…,” Luz whispered in awe. She could feel the heat coming off the flaming monster lick at her face, creating a warm glow in the vicinity of their table. Amity opened her eyes and smiled at the summons, her face lighting up with joy. Luz couldn’t help but grin at her. There was always something so satisfying about seeing the unfettered happiness that brightened Amity’s face when she did magic, unrestrained and free. 

A familiar fluttery sensation erupted in her stomach and Luz swallowed, turning away to try and focus on her own abominations, still staring at her blankly. She scratched her chin with a finger thoughtfully as she tried to decide what to do.

Her arsenal was still very limited but, as she glanced at Amity from the corner of her eye once more she could think of only one thing, and dug through her bag for the glyph she was looking for.

“What are you going to try?” a voice at her back made her look over her shoulder at Amit, who was looking at her with a curious expression.

“Something I know works…,” she hummed and grinned when she finally found what she was searching for and pulled out a slip of paper.

Amity only caught a glance at the familiar sigil as Luz slapped it onto the abomination's belly and it glowed green for a moment before it began to tremble and shake. 

Amity leaned in to watch as vines began to slither across and through the thick sludge, growing thick, leaves beginning to sprout just as the professor approached their table.

“Excellent work, Miss. Blight.” He praised with a smile and nod before turning to look at Luz’s. “Very interesting, Miss. Noceda….” His words were cut short as the abomination began to violently shake, the vines bulging and swelling.

“Uh-oh,” was all Luz had time to mumble before the thing ballooned and exploded in a deluge of purple muck. Luz and Amity shrieked, as did several other students in the blast zone as abomination goo flew everywhere, covering every surface in the viscous substance. 

Luz blinked at the place the abomination had once stood, her face dripping in goo.

“Charlie…,” she pouted.

Amity was just as covered in her place next to her and tried in vain to wipe as much sludge from her face as she could, blinking behind a mask of purple ick. 

Before she could even turn to Luz, the professor, dripping in abomination sludge, was growling.

“MISS. NOCEDA!“

~ ~ ~  
At lunchtime Luz was trudging around the abominations room with a mop and bucket, cleaning up the mess she’d made while her classmates, even Amity, had gone to lunch.

She sighed to herself as she moved to another section of the room. She had imagined that going so much better in her head. It had worked at Grom. Granted it had still exploded, guess that hadn’t been because of Grometheus. 

She grumbled to herself as she wrung the mop out in the purple water.

“How’s it going?”

She jumped, turning to find Amity standing in the doorway with two trays.

“Oh, hey! Shouldn’t you be eating lunch?” she asked, leaning on the mop as Amity walked over and sat the trays on one of the tables. 

“Shouldn’t you?” she shot back with a small smile, motioning to the second tray, which had the food Luz usually ate on it.

The fluttery feeling was back with a vengeance as a smile broke out across her face.

“You didn’t have to…,” she started, leaning the mop against a table as she sat next to Amity, who was already picking up her sandwich, and shrugged. 

“I know… I wanted to,” she said, carefully not looking at Luz, who was still positively beaming even as she started to eat.

The silence was comfortable, and maybe it wasn’t exactly the ‘quality time’ Amity had envisioned, but it was still nice.

Even if she’d spent the first ten minutes after class cleaning abomination goo out of her hair.


	2. On the ice

It's after school on Wednesday when Amity decided it was a good time to move on to the next item on her list.

_2\. Do something you know they love even if you're not a fan._

It didn't take her long to come up with something. It was something Luz had been talking about for weeks, ever since the weather had begun to turn cold. So Amity had sucked it up and asked her if she wanted to go - Gus and Willow too - so it wouldn’t seem like this was anything that it wasn’t; though she definitely hoped for that someday. Luz had quickly agreed and Amity was happy, whilst remaining more than a little hesitant. 

That was the point though wasn’t it?

To put some of her own negative feelings aside and do something Luz really wanted to do. So she had managed to ask her and slap a smile on her face while doing it, not that it was that hard. As much as the activity itself irked her, any time spent with Luz was time Amity enjoyed. Even so…

She really didn’t want to do this…

Not many people knew this, but Amity had taken ice skating lessons for years. She had even competed in competitions and she had loved it for a long time until it had become apparent to both her parents how good she was at it. Then it had just become one more thing for them to push her constantly to be the best at. She didn’t want to be the best, she wanted to do it because it was fun and she liked doing it. The competitions had quickly soured her on this. 

She liked to compete, at first. Even if she didn't always win, she liked pushing herself to be better and try new, complicated maneuvers and things. Once her parents became involved though, anything less than first place was unacceptable and she was ‘slacking’ or ‘not focussing properly’. Then it had become just another chore in her life for her parents to brag about to their work associates. She grew to hate it. Something she had loved had morphed into a tiresome thing on a long list of things her parents had ruined for her. 

She had managed to get out of it by joining grudgby, which was run through the school rather than privately paid for lessons that her parents had more direct control over and she swore that she would never skate again. It wasn't until later, after she had quit grudgby as well, that she could see the trend in her own natural competitiveness that had been morphed into something more dangerous by her parent's ambitions. She decided then that she just wasn’t cut out for competitive sports. 

Yet here she found herself, waiting to get into the ice rink she had not stepped foot on in several years. All because Luz wanted to skate.

Now that she thought about it, she had been broken of her self-exile from grudgby the same way. 

“I’m so excited!” Luz bounced around excitedly. “I didn’t think the Isles would have ice skating,” she said with a thoughtful look. “It’s just so… normal, I guess, compared to things like grudgby or Grom. There has to be a catch.” Luz looked at her as they waited in line at the door to get in. Amity chuckled.

“Well, I don’t know how ice skating in the human world works, so I can’t say if there's a ‘catch’ or not.” Amity looked over at her with a sly, teasing grin. 

“That’s fair.” Luz smiled back. The cold, outside air made her cheeks and nose ruddy, and Amity was sure hers were not much better, though for different reasons. Amity quickly turned to look elsewhere, mostly the front of the line they were quickly approaching the end of so they could get in, but she wasn’t exactly in a hurry for that. It was a surprisingly busy time for the middle of the week. 

The Bonesburough Icerink was only open from the first day of fall till the first day of Spring. Half the year really but Luz had yet to experience it and had been chomping at the bit to go since the day she had heard about it, but had yet to find the time. Amity was still surprised that the day she had settled on was one that both Willow and Gus couldn't make it.

“Why couldn’t Gus and Willow come with us?” Amity finally glanced back at Luz, who perked up as those honey-golden eyes fell on her once again. 

“Willow had to help her dads with something in their shop, and Gus was going to make another attempt to get back his position as head of the human appreciation society, they were having their meeting today.” she shrugged and Amity hummed as they finally approached the end of the line. Before she could twitch, Luz was digging through her pockets and slapping some snails on the counter. 

“Luz! I could have paid for my own,” she huffed, not so much upset by Luz, more that she knew the meager amount of snails Luz made making potions deliveries for Eda on Saturdays and after school. She didn’t need to waste them on Amity when she was more than capable.

“I know you could have, but you invited me and I’ve been wanting to do this forever, so let me do it!” She smiled like it hardly mattered now that she had already paid. Before Amity could voice any more complaints, Luz grabbed her by the hand and all but dragged her inside.

It was cold inside the rink too and Luz was awed by the large circular-shaped ice rink where many witches and demons were already skating about. She made a delighted, high-pitched squealing sound that made Amity grin to herself, even as she winced at the sound in her sensitive ears. 

“Come on, skates are over here.” She tilted her head and led them to the counter, where a large scaly demon was handing out plain old ice skates. Luz looked at them cautiously as they were placed in her hands. She was still waiting. Everything on the Isles had a strange, gruesome or macabre twist on it. She refused to believe that it was just plain old ice skating like in the human world. Not just yet, anyway.

“I’m surprised you know how to ice skate,” Amity admitted as they sat on a bench and began pulling off their shoes.

“Oh yeah! Me and my mom used to go every winter to the rink at the park by our house, we could never stay long, she was always so busy, but I always had a lot of fun!” She grinned at Amity as she pulled on her skates. “What’s so surprising about it?” she asked, head cocked. 

“Oh… well…you're not the most… graceful person, Luz,” she finally admitted, the human girl gave a gasp but Amity knew right away it was one of fake, mocking indignation. 

“I’ll have you know I can be quite graceful when I want to be!” She slapped a hand against her chest for emphasis, making the witch giggle to herself. She had seen Luz's attempts at ‘graceful’ before. Graceful they were not, but she did try, Amity couldn’t argue that point, only the successful-failure rate of those attempts. She would admit, she was quite the graceful dancer though.

She returned to lacing up her own skates and was struck by a sudden wave of nostalgia and bitter memories of her mother telling her to lace them properly that made her frown, pausing in her actions. She was still long enough that Luz must have noticed because the next thing she knew, she was leaning down, her face a mere couple of inches from hers 

“Hey, you okay?”

“Argh!” Amity jerked back, tumbling off the bench with a thump.

“Sorry!” Luz said, reaching to grab her hands and hauled her back onto the bench. “You okay?” she asked again and Amity nodded, face flushed red. 

“I’m fine,” she assured. “Let’s just go.” She stood and carefully walked over to the edge of the rink, Luz following along behind her. 

She glanced down at the ice for a long moment. She could clearly remember the last time she had been here and she really would like to forget all about it and she thought that she had, for the most part, by never coming back.

“Amity?” Luz asked her and she shook herself before turning to the other girl and smiling, it felt strained, though she wasn’t sure if Luz noticed or not, but the confused and slightly worried look on her friend’s face never changed.

"I'm fine." With that she stepped out onto the ice, gliding gracefully out a few feet. It felt like it always had, almost second nature to her. She turned to look at Luz, curious to see if she could actually skate or not.

She was pleasantly surprised when Luz followed her out onto the ice with a grin, her movements solid and sure.

"Come on!" Luz grinned and took off, practically gliding out across the ice into the fray of people. Amity couldn’t help but grin and hurried off after her.

They made a few test laps, growing used to it before Luz was speeding past her and sticking her tongue out over her shoulder at her. 

“Now who’s graceful, Blight?!” she called and Amity smirked before taking after her. Luz may have been surprisingly quick and nimble on the ice, but she was still no match for Amity, who quickly caught up to her.

Luz nearly stumbled, falling onto her face when Amity zipped out in front of her and did a quick jump and spin, landing back onto the ice without a single hitch in her stride, mint hair whipping around her shoulders, even as she turned to look at Luz and grinned. 

Luz blinked, mouth falling open slightly as she watched the smooth, lithe display. She wasn't sure why she was surprised that the witch was good at this, there didn’t seem to be much Amity wasn’t good at! Not that Luz was going to let that stop her from maybe trying to show off a little of her own. 

With a grin she hurried after Amity, spinning around on the ice in front of her and hitting the witch with cold, icy shrapnel. 

Amity squeaked and Luz laughed before Amity pushed a few loose strands of green hair out of her face, a wicked grin playing across her lips. 

“It’s on, Noceda!” she called and Luz squealed before turning and skating away, Amity hot on her heels. They chased each other, yelping, screaming, and laughing for the better part of an hour before Amity finally slowed to take a breather. Luz, however, was a limitless font of energy and skated past her backward. 

"Come on, Amity. You can do better than that!" Luz teased with a grin and a wink.

Amity froze.

However, the cause was not Luz's playfully flirtatious call, but the hauntingly familiar words that echoed in her head.

_'You can do better than that, Amity!'_

Her father's voice echoed in her head, and her hands clenched at her sides, just like the last time she had been here.

She had fallen, scraped up both her knees and little droplets of blood were falling onto the ice when her father had begun chastising her. That was the day she had decided that she did not want to skate anymore.

“Amity?” The witch jumped as a hand rested on her upper arm. She turned to look at the concerned face pulling at the corners of Luz’s face.

"I'm okay," she managed to say after a moment, shaking herself from her reverie. Luz did not look convinced in the slightest.

“Something has clearly been bothering you ever since we got here… what is it?” Luz’s voice was unusually soft and quiet as they stood at one of the far edges of the rink, isolated for the most part from the rest of the skaters. 

“Sorry… I…” She trailed off, not sure what to say, especially not with Luz looking at her like that. So soft and understanding it made her throat close up.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to… but I’m here to listen if you do…” Luz’s hand on her arm gave a gentle squeeze and Amity chewed her bottom lip between her teeth, face flushed. She'd asked Luz to come with her so they could do something fun she enjoyed, but now Amity wondered whether she should have picked something that didn't have quite so many negative connotations for her.

She sighed, looking up at Luz, who still looked more than a little concerned

“I kind of hate ice skating,” she finally admitted.

“What?!” Luz yelped, drawing the attention of several other skaters nearby. Amity flushed darker under the extra attention and Luz lowered her volume, noticing her friend's uncomfortableness under the added scrutiny.

"If you hate it, why did you ask me to come?" she asked, clearly confused.

"Because you really wanted to come and I wanted to… I didn't always hate it…" She finally decided on, rather than telling Luz that she had just wanted to do something that she liked with her.

"I used to skate all the time as a kid, I even competed and I loved it… but then it just became one more thing I excelled at for my parents to brag about and push me harder at… it wasn't fun anymore," she mumbled. Luz's grip on her arm tightened slightly.

"We could have done something else…" Luz started, looking guilty and her gold eyes widened. 

"No!" she shouted, making Luz jump, once more drawing the gaze of those around them for a moment. "No… today has been a lot of fun, actually…," she said, looking anywhere but at Luz. "It's just… hard to separate the bad memories sometimes… skating with you reminded me of why I loved it so much." She peeked up at Luz from beneath her lashes and Luz felt her breath stick in her throat. All she could manage with a nod before removing her hand from the witch's arm and taking hold of her hand instead, their fingers laced together. 

Amity froze solid, much like the thick ice beneath her feet.

"Well, let's keep skating then and forget about the bad times you had here. You can make new memories with me." She offered with a bright smile that sent Amity's heart to thumping loudly from within her ribs. She was sure Luz would be able to hear it if not for the low rumble of the crowd around them.

"Yeah." She nodded, gently squeezing Luz's hand back. 

The other girl beamed and gently tugged her along as they resumed their laps around the rink at a much more sedate and leisurely pace. 

"We'll have to come back another time and maybe you can show me how to do some of those cool jumps." Luz offered with a grin and Amity laughed under her breath.

"Maybe… the rink is only open until spring, then it thaws and it's too dangerous to be here," she told her.

"Why don't they just keep it frozen all year long?" Luz looked at her, face scrunched up.

"Because the hydra only hibernates in the fall and winter, even if it was frozen over in summer it would just break through and eat the skaters." She shrugged. 

"A Hydra lives under the ice?" Luz asked, eyes blown wide and Amity nodded.

"I knew it!" Luz pumped a fist.


	3. No substitutions

_‘Simple but meaningful gifts’_

It sounded easy enough, in theory.

‘In theory’ being the keyword here. 

Amity sat in her study period on Friday afternoon racking her brain for any possible ideas on what she could give the other girl. Luz wasn’t the type who seemed to want for much possessions wise, or at least, she never mentioned anything to Amity that she could remember off the top of her head. 

Magic stuff? Luz was always ready and willing to get involved with even the most dangerous of magical artifacts, no matter their intended function; Luz was easily fascinated.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to go the route of magic for this though; it was too easy. She wanted to give Luz something that meant something, something that she did with her own hands rather than a single twirl of her finger. 

Luz was always doing thoughtful little things for Gus, Willow, and herself. She liked to do things for them often, that was just how she was. That gentle, nurturing nature didn’t come naturally to Amity, ashamed as she was to admit it. 

She was used to… something else entirely. Something unpleasant that she didn’t care to spend much time outside of her home thinking about if she could help it. She was getting better at it all the time though, being surrounded by people like Willow again, like Gus and Luz instead of Boscha and the rest of her former little cohort, she hoped that someday, it would come as easily to her as it did to Luz. She wasn’t sure that was possible though. 

That being said, she didn’t yet have the best basis to draw from for that kind of thing and was struggling at coming up with any worthwhile ideas that weren’t stupid or very embarrassing.

She sighed to herself as she flipped through her book, bored, before suddenly Gus flopped himself down into the spot next to her, making her jump.

“Heya, Amity!” the younger witch chirped with a bright grin as he settled into the seat next to her and started pulling out his books. She forgot the boy also had this study period since he so rarely attended it, letting one of his clones sit in class and study for him.

“Oh, hi, Gus.” She nodded to him, it seemed for once he himself was in attendance. “What are you doing here?” she asked with a tilt of her head as she regarded him. He sank into his chair with a pitiful pout and sighed. 

“Principal Bump caught me in the hallway with Luz and sent us both to class,” he grumbled, flipping open one of his notebooks sullenly. 

Amity paused at the mention of the girl’s name. Gus was a near expert when it came to all things human, though she knew for a fact through Luz, that some of his information was a hair… off. He still knew one human in particular quite well and that was the only one that Amity had any interest in any way. 

“Hey, Gus?” she called after a moment.

“Yeah?” He looked up at her curiously. She hesitated for a second before her resolve hardened, Willow knew but she was certain that Gus was just as oblivious as Luz herself and probably wouldn’t even think twice about what she was going to ask him.

“I’ve been wanting to do or give something to Luz, maybe something I could do for her that would remind her of home, and was wondering if you had some ideas since you know so much about humans…” Before she could finish he jumped in.

“Oh! I’d be happy to help you,” he declared with a grin. “Let’s see… hmmm,” Gus hummed and tapped his chin thoughtfully, studies all but forgotten on the table. Amity waited as he seemed to be deep in thought before he slammed his fist into his other hand. “I know she misses the food from the human world a lot. Did you know they don’t usually eat things that are still alive or have a face?” he asked her excitedly and Amity shook her head. That was a strange concept to her but it did explain the sometimes queasy look Luz had whenever something with a few eyeballs was served to her; or something she had to fight back.

“Strange…,” Amity hummed and Gus crossed his arms as he nodded knowingly. 

“Very, I digress, maybe you could make her something similar to the food in the human world,” he suggested.

It was an idea, more than any she had if nothing else. There was one problem with that plan though. 

“I don’t know anything about human food.” She frowned but Gus only seemed to light up all the brighter.

“Then you have come to the right place.” He grinned and began digging through his bag before pulling out a familiar blue notebook. One Amity had often seen him scribbling rapidly in, most often when Luz was explaining something about the human world to them. “I have been keeping notes about all things human ever since we met and I have a whole section dedicated to human cuisine…,” he said distractedly as he flipped through the papers, scribbled margin to margin with sharp, blocky letters. 

He finally stopped on a page and held it out to her. It listed many things that Amity had never heard of before and very seldom few she had.

“From the way I understand it from Luz and my own research, many humans like to bake multiple ingredients together to make something entirely new. You could try and make her something!” He bounced in his seat excitedly as being able to put his human knowledge to work. 

Amity hummed as she looked over the list. Some of the things on it she’d never heard of but they sounded similar to ingredients she did know, by that logic, surely she could create something at least close, right? 

She twirled a finger and made a quick duplicate of the notes.

“Thanks, Gus.” She smiled at him and he puffed up proudly.

“Anytime. Your resident human expert is always at your service.” He gave a little half-bow from his place in the chair and Amity had to hold back her snort. She supposed it wasn’t just her siblings. All illusion track students seemed to have a flair for the dramatic. 

~ ~ 

Saturday morning, with the list in hand and armed with a little more knowledge from Gus, Amity had a plan. Well, she had most of a plan at any rate. 

He assured her that what she had in mind was a well-loved human treat that Luz would go crazy over and really, what else did she need to know?

She’d never been much of a cook herself but the younger witch had been happy to supply her with all his knowledge on the matter, which admittedly, was limited but still far greater than hers. 

It took her longer than she would have liked to find everything she needed at the market, most of which was only close but it would have to do. 

She laid it all out in front of her on the counter and hummed as she looked over the ingredients and the recipe Gus gave her that he had procured from a human book he bought from Eda. 

Butter  
Sugar  
Cocoa powder  
Vanilla extract  
Eggs  
Flour  
Salt   
Walnut halves.

Butter, sugar, and salt, they shared with the human world, so she at least had that going for her. She hadn’t the faintest idea what cocoa powder or vanilla extract was, but she assumed that powdered snapper lilies and basilisk extract would serve the same, they were both fairly common baking ingredients in the Boiling Isles after all. She could only assume that since the list said ‘eggs’ that it meant griffin eggs, they were the only ones used with any regularity in cooking.

She had to read through the recipe a few times to come to the conclusion that ‘flour’ was some kind of powder used for baking in the human world so the powdered scarab shells they used would probably be a fine substitute. 

No matter how many times she read over it, she couldn’t even begin to fathom what ‘walnuts’ were but she figured ‘woenuts’ at least sounded close.

Luckily, her parents were out for the day, though she knew her brother and sister were lurking about somewhere in the manor. They tended to stay in their rooms on Saturday though if they weren’t off with friends, so she’d probably be able to get through this without either or both of them rearing their head in the kitchen. 

The recipe really only had one step outside baking.

‘Combine the melted butter, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, eggs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Decorate with walnut halves, if desired.’

Seemed simple enough.

The combining part? Easy. 

Given the types of food on the Isles, she wasn’t all that concerned when the thick, gloopy batter bubbled and made odd hissing noises as she mixed it together and poured it into a pan. She wasn’t sure if it was supposed to change color like that but it was probably fine, right? 

She slid it in the oven and as it baked she spelled out her scroll and typed out a quick message to Luz, asking if she could come over. She didn’t have to wait long before a message came back saying yes and a lot of little characters that, if she squinted, sort of looked like faces.

She smiled to herself as she poofed it away and watched the sludgy, brownish-green treat bake for the amount of time the recipe said. It looked good to her so far; she just hoped Luz liked it.

“Whatcha doing, Mittens?” A sudden voice in her ear made her jump and she spun around to find her brother and sister standing there smiling deviously at her. 

“None of your business…,” she grumbled.

“Looks like you’re baking…,” Emira hummed, leaning over her shoulder to look into the oven curiously. Amity growled and shoved her away. 

“Oh, anything good?” Edric crowded in to look into the little glass window on the stove. 

“No! It’s…” She couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t have them even more on her case than they already were. They seemed to know just by her hesitation though.

“Oooh” they echoed and Amity’s face reddened. “Something for a certain...human, maybe?” Edric wagged his brows at her and if possible she turned even redder while Emira giggled behind her hand. 

“No, it's…!” she started,

“They say the fastest way to a human's heart is through their stomach.” Emira turned to her twin, who grinned. 

“I thought it was the ‘spleen’ whatever that is..” Edric tapped his chin. 

“I just wanted to make her something that was like what she had at home!” Amity finally snapped, silencing both her siblings at the loud yell. “Luz… has been here for months longer than was meant to and I know sometimes she… really misses her home and her mom… I just wanted to do something nice for her,” she finally said, refusing to look at either one of them, fists clenched and eyes trained on the floor at her feet.

It was painfully quiet for a few long moments before her sister's voice broke the oppressive stillness around the three.

“That’s sweet, Amity.” 

She looked up at the tone, lacking any of its usually snarky or teasing notes. Both twins looked far more serious and subdued than they had just a moment ago.

“Really?” she asked cautiously and they both nodded. 

“Yeah, I can’t imagine what it's like being trapped in another world with no way back,” Edric said, planting a hand on his hip thoughtfully. “It’s nice to try and give her something that reminds her of home.” He nodded.

“Well, we don’t have many of the same ingredients… so I’m not sure how it’s gonna come out…,” she trailed off. 

“Eh, it’s the thought that counts, right?” Edric shrugged and Emira nodded.

“I’m sure she’ll just be happy that you tried, Amity.” her sister laid a hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She nodded.

~ ~

“Amity!” Luz beamed at her once she threw open the door to the Owl House. The witch couldn't help but smile back in the face of Luz’s palpable joy, even though she was so nervous it felt like her stomach was eating itself. 

“Hi, Luz.” 

“Come on in!” Luz stepped aside to allow her inside before Hooty could bother her. She stepped inside and noticed immediately how quiet it was, even King was nowhere to be found.

“Where is everyone?” she asked.

“Oh, Eda and Lilith went to the market and took King with them, just me and you.” she smiled, and Amity’s grip on the cloth-covered tray in her hands tightened. This was not a scenario she’d imagined, and she’d imagined plenty.

“Whatcha got there?” 

Her head snapped up as Luz peered curiously at the cloth-covered tray in her hands. Taking a deep breath she held it out to Luz like an offering, which she supposed it was in some ways.

“It’s for you,” she said, cheeks pinking as Luz’s mouth fell open in a little ‘o’ as she looked down at the pan as Amity pressed it into her hands.

“For me?” she asked and Amity nodded. “What is it?”

“I just… wanted to do something for you, since you’re always doing things for m- us!” she quickly corrected herself. “You’re always doing nice things for Willow, Gus, and I… so I tried to make human food for you…,” she said quietly, fidgeting back and forth on her feet and playing with the edges of her shirt nervously. 

“Oooh!” Luz flipped back the cloth and stared down at the fluffy, dark-colored food in the pan. “Brownies!” Luz lit up like a light glyph and Amity’s lips twitched up at the corners to see it. “You didn’t have to do this, Amity,” Luz said a second later, almost shyly and Amity would swear she saw a hint of color splashed across her face.

“Hopefully it came out alright, I’m not much of a cook, we have people for that at home…,” she started but Luz quickly waved it off. 

“I’m sure they're great, come on!” She held the tray in one hand and grabbed one of Amity’s with the other and dragged her into the kitchen, sitting it and Amity down at the table. “I’ll get us some plates!” She grinned as she moved around the kitchen quickly. Amity sat in a chair and watched her. Luz did everything with so much energy and joy, it was a task to keep up with her some days but one Amity would gladly take on. 

Luz plopped down in front of her, sliding a plate across the table and sitting another in front of herself before she started cutting into the thick treat. 

Amity had to admit, as Luz set a square on her plate, that they didn’t look too bad. They at least must have looked like what they were supposed to since the human girl had immediately recognized them. 

She watched as Luz, with a wide grin, took a stupidly large bite of her own before she picked up hers and followed suit. 

She knew she had made a mistake the moment her teeth clicked together.

Why? Why was it so slimy, and what was the grainy, mushy chunks that were squishing between her teeth!? 

Her face screwed up in disgust as she tried to suppress her gag at the vile texture coating her tongue. She turned her eyes to the remains of the square in her hand, looking at it as though betrayed before grabbing up her napkin and spitting it out. 

A quiet gurgling noise made her look up and she watched, horrified, as Luz slowly chewed, trying not to let her face twist up as she noticed Amity’s eyes on her. 

“There… good…,” she mumbled around the thick, goopy food, a smile, more akin to a grimace pulling at her face

“Luz… there, not, spit out.” 

“No, no, it is!” she said quickly and continued to chew defiantly, her whole body shuddered and Amity could see her trying not to gag.

“Luz, they're terrible, please spit it out!” 

Luz didn’t need telling twice before jumping up and running to sink to retch. Amity pressed both her hands to her face and wished she could just disappear as she listened to Luz rinse her mouth out in the sink. She felt about a foot tall in that moment; how had this gone so terribly wrong?

Luz plopped back down in her seat, still looking a little green.

“I’m sorry,” Amity mumbled, unable to look her in the eye as she laid her hands back down on the table, curling into tight fists. 

“No, no!” Luz waved her hands frantically. “They were… not quite to my taste…,” she tried tactfully “I just appreciate that you tried…” She reached over and covered one of Amity’s hands with her own, making her look up. 

“I’m surprised you weren’t poisoned,” she grumbled morosely, to which Luz only shrugged.

“It’s not like it would be the first time,” she chuckled but still Amity frowned. “Hey,” she called gently, making Amity look at her again. “Maybe these didn’t come out… perfect but you tried, for me, and I really appreciate that, Amity.” She smiled and Amity’s heart fluttered wildly in her chest. 

Amity hummed in response, turning her hand over to squeeze Luz’s back.

“Hey, I got an idea!” she perked up with a grin. “Eda keeps a box of Kraken cake mix in the cabinet, let’s make that together!” she suggested.

“Oh… okay,” she agreed with a nod, trying to keep the heat she felt on her cheeks from becoming too noticeable. Luz jumped up, pulling away and Amity already missed the warmth of her hand in hers.

“Come on!” she called and Amity followed her as she bustled around the kitchen at a lightning pace, leaving Amity to try and follow her trail of excitement.

The next couple hours were spent in raucous laughter and covered in various ingredients, but the end result was something edible and an afternoon Amity was happy to pay for in the most disgusting thing, including abominations, she had ever made.


	4. Flower Language

Amity had been stalling on the next item on her list. 

_ ‘Small moments of affection’ _

She wasn’t even sure where, to begin with  _ that _ one. 

Affection was something that, much as she hated to admit it, did not come as naturally to Amity as it did for most people but especially not as easy as it came to Luz, who never seemed to have any trouble expressing herself no matter the situation. 

Frustration? Annoyance? Pride? Easy. She had far more practice with that side of the emotional spectrum. The softer, more tender side of the gamut often escaped her, made her feel awkward and unsure of herself whenever the occasion occurred. She didn’t have to guess to know why. 

Those emotions opened you up, made you vulnerable, which in turn could make you weak, and if there was one thing she had been taught all her life it was that being weak was the worst possible thing one could be, especially her. 

She was a  _ Blight _ .

They were meant to be the best and top of anything and everything they did. Everyone envied them and would do anything in their power to see them fail or steal some of that prestige for themselves. So, her parents had always stressed the importance of staying on top and never showing weakness. Such affections made you weak, at least her parents thought so. Their affections were cold and calculated at best. 

Amity did not care. 

She was ineffably drawn to Luz for any number of reasons, some she could name and others she couldn’t, no matter how much she tried but that way of thinking was still hard to shove to the wayside, no matter how aware of it she was. Thus, the idea of acting on such things made her feel queasy and nauseous; like her collar was too tight and her steps uneven. She was much too aware of her heavy breathing and rapid heartbeat whenever Luz was near and she was never quite sure what to do with her hands, what did she normally do with them? 

Despite that, she couldn’t get enough of the warm, jittery sensation that seemed to flood her from the tips of her ears down to her toes whenever the human girl looked at her or said something dorky with that bright, toothy grin, sunlight lighting up her dark brown eyes and giving them a bronzy appearance that made heat race to her cheeks. 

How badly she wanted to be able to casually lace their fingers together and tug Luz along somewhere as the other girl often did to her, she just couldn’t make her body obey, stilled by the nagging fear and doubt that whispered in the back of her mind whenever her fingers so much as twitched with the notion.

She wanted to but that was a hill she could not yet surmount, so she decided to skip to the next thing on the list. 

_ ‘Take a walk together' _

She could manage that one.

Probably.

It was a matter of finding an opportunity. It would probably seem strange to just invite Luz to go out on a walk with her. Though, knowing Luz, she may not find it strange in the slightest.

Especially given the last few days. Maybe it was just wishful thinking or her imagination but she was almost sure that Luz had seemed a lot more… well, just more, as of late. It was honestly hard to tell with her but Amity was sure the other girl had been more touchy, more attentive when Amity was near. She seemed to stand that much closer and whenever they were together she would look up and Luz would quickly avert her eyes like she had been watching her. She wasn’t sure what to make of it if there was actually anything there to be made of. 

Either way, the opportunity was soon presented to her a few days later when the four of them were hanging out together in the woods just beyond Hexside after school. They hadn’t had any plans really, just messing around in the wilds of the Isles. A terrible idea really considering the myriad of things that could and would eat them given the first opportunity but Luz couldn’t be swayed once she came up with an idea. 

“This is a tarantula blossom.” Willow pointed out the little purple and green flower nestled in the dirt among the grass.

“Why is it called that?” Luz cocked her head. 

“Because…” before she could finish the sentence, Luz was reaching out to grab it. The petals rustled and she jerked her hand back as the flower jumped up, an arachnid popping up out of the dirt. Eight beady, blood-red eyes looked up at them and it hissed before skittering off in the weeds. “That’s why,” Willow chuckled as Luz watched in awe as it vanished among the grass.

“Every day I learn something new…,” she mumbled. 

“Pfft, the human world is so much more interesting though!” Gus jumped in from his place sitting on a fallen log with Amity as she and Willow kneeled in the dirt looking at all the different plants. 

“It’s really not,” Luz laughed, sitting back on her heels as she looked over at them. 

“Are you kidding? Ever since you told me about them, all I ever wanted is a human stapler!” He clasped his hands together and stared dreamily off into the distance. Luz had to bite down on her lip to keep from laughing while Willow just shook her head and Amity snorted.

“Oh, that reminds me!” Luz jumped up and started digging through her bag. Gus perked up curiously as she hummed, shoving things around inside breaking into a grin. “Aha!” She pulled out what appeared to be a hunk of silver metal and held it out for Gus’s inspection.

“I found this in one of Eda’s junk piles, I thought you might like it,” she said as she dropped it in his hands, looking it over with heated intensity.

He held one end in his hand and jumped when it dropped from his hand, uncoiling in a ribbon of metal to the ground.

“Oh no, I broke it!” He frowned and Luz just laughed.

“No, no. It’s supposed to do that! It’s a slinky!” She grinned and Gus blinked up at her in amazement. 

“Slinnnnkey'' He drew out the word, testing it in his mouth as he wiggled the metal around, making a metallic warbling noise and his ears twitched with happiness as a grin pulled at his lips. “Fascinating! What’s it for?” He looked up at her.

“It’s a toy.” Luz shrugged, grinning to herself as he shook it around it with delight. “When you get a chance, tip it over some stairs!” 

"Thanks, Luz!" he giggled gleefully as he played with it, completely forgetting about the stapler.

"It's been so long since Eda could access the human world I'm surprised she still has stuff left," Willow said as she rose from the ground and dusted the dirt off her knees.

"Oh, no, she has tons of stuff stored in the spare rooms at the Owl House. It will be a long time before she runs out of stuff to hock at the market." Luz waved off the concern. 

She really did. Luz was a long way from even scratching the surface of all the stuff stored in the spare rooms.

Before the plant witch could respond, a soft chiming filled the air and she blinked, jerking back and raising a finger to draw a quick spell circle. Her scroll poofed into existence and she looked at it for a second before frowning.

"My dads need help at the shop, I gotta go." She looked up at them with a frown.

"It's all good, Willow," Luz assured with a wave and Amity nodded.

“If your parents need you, then go,” she agreed and Willow smiled gratefully at her. 

“I’ll head back with you, I want to study my ‘slinky’ in more depth at home…,” he said, never taking his eyes off the toy.

“See you guys tomorrow!” Luz waved as the two walked off into the woods and disappeared among the trees before turning back to Amity, still sitting on the log. 

“I can't wait to give him the ‘Magic 8 Ball’ I found for him for his birthday,” she chuckled to herself.

Amity had no idea what an ‘8 ball’ was but knowing Gus, he would be delighted either way.

“You don’t have to run off just yet, do you?” she asked and Amity quickly shook her head. 

“No, I don’t have to be home till late today…,”

“Great! You wanna walk around with me?” she asked and Amity perked, suddenly remembering the next thing on her list. 

“Yes!” she jumped up, making Luz rear back and she mentally scolded herself. 

_ ‘Reel it back in, Blight!’  _ She thought angrily.

“I mean, yeah, that sounds nice.” she nodded and Luz beamed at her. That same, bright smile that never failed to make her weak at the knees. Were she weaker, she would have plopped back down onto the log but she managed to stay standing.

“Come on, then.” Luz grabbed her hand, sending a little jolt through her arm as she gently tugged her along through the woods. 

She had no idea where they were going but she didn’t really care either. Luz could drag her into a dragon’s lair and she would go along happily. 

They walked quickly through the woods, the crunchy and curled-up leaves crackled and snapped under their feet. The trees still held plenty of leaves but just as many littered the ground in a thick layer. Luz seemed to take a distinct pleasure in crunching the biggest ones beneath her shoes as they walked and Amity smiled to herself. Luz could take pleasure in the smallest, simplest things and her joy was infectious. It seeped into her easily and warmed her from the inside. She couldn’t help it, anytime Luz was happy Amity was as well. 

Those tender and frightening emotions made her hesitant but drew her closer all the same. After all these months she could say one thing for certain.

She was in love with Luz.

A dizzying and terrifying thought that drove her heart into her throat even as it made her feel light and giddy. A confusing and heady mix of emotions for sure.

She wanted to ask where they were going but it didn’t really matter to her, even though she was mildly curious; this was Luz after all. There were any number of places they could wind up. 

They wandered around for a while, hopping over fallen trees and kicking up the leaves, sending smaller creatures skitting out of the way. Luz, who usually was all over the place, looking at everything and anything, seemed remarkably calm for once, staying anchored to Amity’s side, fingers laced between hers in a sedate pace that she wouldn’t normally associate with the human. The cool autumn air was gentle but the late afternoon sun was warm on her back and she actually managed to relax at one point, until she felt Luz’s thumb start running back and forth gently across her knuckles and her whole body stiffened. She was surprised her legs even kept working after that, her steps more stilted than before. 

Her question was finally answered some twenty minutes later when they broke through the treeline and found themselves standing in a clearing full of brightly colored flowers. They grew thick as weeds among the grass, an array of vibrant hues and shades.

“I found this place last week when I got chased home by a Jaggertooth,” Luz explained, tugging her along, watching the witch’s face as she gazed around the clearing but that made her look up.

“Jaggertooth’s are docile… why was it chasing you?” she asked, face scrunching up and Luz laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head with her free hand. 

“Oh, well… I might have stepped on its tail…,” she muttered under her breath and Amity rolled her eyes.

“Of course you did…” she huffed. 

“Well if it's just going to leave it sticking out of the bushes, that’s going to happen!” She threw up her hands and Amity snorted. 

“It’s pretty,” she said, looking around at all the flowers. Luz glanced at her from the corner of her eye and hummed in agreement before turning her eyes back on the flowers.

“Come on,” Luz darted ahead into the thick of the plants and plopped herself down in the middle of them, taking care not to crush any of the delicate blossoms beneath her. Amity followed, carefully arranging herself on the ground next to her.

“So, why did you bring me here?” she asked looking over at Luz as she toyed with the delicate petals of the closest flower near her knee. Luz’s eyes flickered to her before turning back to the blossoms in front of her. Seeming to think for a moment, hesitating.

“I remembered that Eda needed some flowers for her potions and asked me to get them on the way home.” She shrugged, threading her fingers between the blades of grass distractedly.

“Oh” Amity breathed, trying not to feel the slight sting of disappointment that Luz brought her here for a purpose. She shook it off quickly though and turned to the task at hand. She was good with a set objective, it gave her something to focus on and she was happy to spend the time with Luz regardless. “What type of flowers did she need?” she asked.

“Uh…” Luz pulled at the blades of grass, ripping them out of the dirt in her fist as she seemed to think before finally shrugging. “She didn’t say…?” 

It sounded almost like a question and Amity frowned. She would never claim to know Eda better than Luz or at all that well at all really. The Owl Lady and everything she did was a mystery to Amity and when she wasn't scamming people for human junk in the market, she was a potioner by trade and a very good one at that from what she knew. It seemed strange that she wouldn’t be specific in which plants she needed since one wrong ingredient could make something else entirely. 

“Okay, well…” she looked around at the plants that surrounded them, “Most of these have magical properties and are used in potion brewing.” she reached out and plucked a bright magenta flower with green tinting the edges of its petals in delicate strokes of emerald. 

“Okay, we’ll just pick a bunch then!” Luz nodded in quick agreement with her and started combing through the flowers. 

They picked through them quietly before Amity looked up to notice that Luz was no longer picking them so much as… something else.

“What are you doing?'' she leaned over to look at Luz’s hands as she meticulously strung together flower stems in little knots. Her fingers worked carefully around the soft petals of every flower, careful not to bend or rip them.

“Making a flower crown,” she said, eyes never looking up from the work at hand.

“A what?” Amity blinked and Luz smiled, eyes sliding to look at her.

“It's a human thing, I guess. I’ll show you.” 

Amity watched, mesmerized as the little string of flowers, slowly but surely took shape before Luz held in her hands, a ringlet of woven flowers, stems all carefully tied together in smooth knots with their buds facing outward.

“Ta~da!” she held it out for Amity’s inspection. The witch reached out and ran her fingers softly over the plants.

“What’s it for?” she glanced up at Luz who grinned and without a word, reached up and laid it in her hair. 

“It’s just pretty…” she gave a little half-shrug and smiled but she wasn’t looking up at the flowers but directly at Amity, who felt like her face was about to burst into flames. She quickly turned to look at anything but the girl beside her. 

“Ah… yeah.” she nodded and a loose lock of hair fell from behind her ear, brushing her cheek as she focused on another flower in the grass by her ankle. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt fingertips sweep softly against her cheek as Luz pushed the hair back behind her ear, brushing the appendage in a whisper of a touch that sent a tremor down her spine. Her ears twitched against her will and she hoped beyond hope that Luz would not notice or at the very least be unaware of the meaning. 

“It’s neat how witches can move their ears…,” she said quietly, sinking Amity’s hope like a flaming ship full of holes. There was a certain lilt to her voice that Amity couldn’t place, something almost knowing; smug.

“It’s involuntary,” she mumbled, flush stretching from the tips of her rapidly twitching ears to her collar. Luz had been in the Isles nearly six months but surely she hadn’t picked up on the fact that when they were happy their ears twitched. 

“I wish I could do that…” She reached up and flicked at her own ears testingly and Amity couldn’t help the upward twitch of her lips at the absolutely annoyed look on Luz’s face as she tried to make her ears move on their own.

“I like your ears,” came slipping out between her lips before she could even think to stop it and immediately those brown eyes were on her, wide and glowing with bright wonder for a moment before she smiled and Amity thought she might see a hint of color splashed across her face, but in the bright sun, it was hard to say.

“Thanks,” she said quietly. 

“We should… pick the flowers,” she mumbled, turning her attention, with great effort, back to the task at hand. Her gaze trailed over the litany of buds for a long moment before falling on one in particular.

Its pristine white color and butter yellow center almost glowed in the sunlight and she recognized its irregular but smooth edges. Her fingers wrapped around the stem and plucked it gently from the ground before she could even think about it. 

White Gardenia. 

For a while, when she was small, she had been very into the meanings behind flowers, something she and Willow had dug into together but had been cut out of her life right along with the other witch. It had been a long time since she had thought about that and all the different meanings attached to the plants but she remembered this one with striking clarity at the moment.

_ ‘Secret love’ _

She could feel the irony as she stared at it.

“Whatcha got?” 

She jumped as Luz was suddenly leaning over her shoulder, so close she could feel her hair brushing her cheek.

“It’s a white gardenia.”

“Oh, we have those in the human world!” she perked, grinning.

“Do they have the same meaning in the human world?” she asked curiously and Luz hummed thoughtfully before shrugging.

“I don’t know, I don't know much about flower meanings.” 

Amity twirled the stem between her fingers for a moment, before turning and slipped the stem gently behind one of Luz’s rounded ears.

“Here,” her voice was low and quiet but she was sure Luz heard it. Her eyes swiveled back to meet Luz’s and froze. This time, Amity was positive she saw the color spread across her cheeks, bright and rosy like some of the flowers that surrounded them. Her own rushed back up her neck in response to the look on Luz’s face, one she wasn’t sure how to explain into words other than bewilderment.

She was jolted out of her frozen state by Luz’s next words.

“What does it mean?”

“Huh?” she asked back eloquently. 

“What do white gardenia mean here?” Luz repeated, clarifying the question.

She didn’t think it was possible for the bright, red flush spread across her cheeks could get any hotter but she was wrong. 

“I-it has different meanings at times.” she shrugged helplessly, finally breaking her gaze from Luz’s, who continued to watch her intently. “We should finish here and get going...”

Maybe she did have some luck today because Luz made an agreeing noise and they gathered up a few more flowers before heading out of the woods, parting ways at the fork in the road. 

Amity hurried down the path home, she wanted to get home before her siblings so she could press the ringlet of flowers between one of her books to dry. 

~ ~ ~

Luz was humming happily to herself when she walked through the door of the Owl House later that afternoon, flowers in hand. Eda was in the kitchen, mixing up a batch of potions over the sink.

She looked up as she walked in. 

“Hey, Kid. whatcha got there?” she asked as Luz dug around one of the cupboards before coming back with an old, chipped flower vase.

“Flowers,” she hummed, smiling to herself.

Eda cocked a brow as she regarded the dopey smile on her apprentice's face. She knew Luz, and the smile pulling at her face right now wasn't her usual ‘I’m just always obnoxiously happy all the time’ smile. She also took note of the bright white, and yellow flower tucked behind her ear.

“What are they for?” she asked.

“Nothing, just… pretty.” She smiled to herself as she arranged the delicate white flowers in the vase. “Hey,” she turned back around to look at her.

“Do you have books about the meanings of flowers?” she asked and Eda shot her a funny look but shrugged.

“Yeah, I think I got one, why?” she asked and watched curiously as Luz’s face colored. What the hell was going on here?

“I just… wanna double-check something...” 

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
